Common leafy vegetables as intercrops with bitter gourd on peat

A. C. Leong

Abstract

A study on four leafy vegetable intercrops (Chinese mustard, white mustard, lettuce and water convolvulus) with bitter gourd was carried out over two crop cycles on peat from 1986 to 1987. A replicated 4 x 2 factorial with bitter gourd monocrop as a control was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Intercropping leafy vegetables did not affect bitter gourd yield. Agronomically, these vegetables were comparible with bitter gourd. The average yield, over two crop cycles, of the intercropped bitter gourd of 10.4 t/ha was comparable to the bitter gourd monocrop yield of 10.3 t/ha. Higher fertilizer level increased the yield of bitter gourd. Besides contributing extra income, the intercrops also checked the weed population during the early establishment of bitter gourd. On peat, intercropping systems recorded an average of 87% higher net returns than the bitter gourd monocrop. Based on the economic returns per hectare, the best intercropping system was bitter gourd with lettuce.

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